For Part 2 of this review click here. Early on in The Moral Arc Michael Shermer quotes Voltaire: “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” (7) It’s clear that Shermer likes this quote because he returns to it on several occasions. At one point he offers a different translation: “Truly, whoever […]
utilitarianism
Is God a user? A response to Nate’s Principle
It’s Saturday morning, I’m sitting with a coffee by the fireplace, and the balloon is watching me. (He’s hovering over the kitchen table at the moment. At least he’s still smiling.) Now that I have some time I can offer some thoughts on “Evil and Nate’s Principle“. Please click the link to read Nate’s comments. […]
Evil and Nate’s Principle
Nate is a philosopher in our midst who comments regularly on the blog. He just wrote a comment in “A Martian’s perspective on the problem of evil” which I’d like to interact with in a couple days. The comment is quite long and elegantly stated. And since threaded comments don’t always get the attention they […]
Sex favors for dying children? A Response to Jag Levak
We all recognize it is good to be generous, but there are limits. For example, Herod was generous to offer the daughter of Herodias whatever she wanted. But he was just wrong to oblige the child’s request for the head of John the Baptist. What if the daughter was terminally ill and had made an […]
Abortion and the old Coat hanger Argument
“We tried universal illegal abortion and the results were quite horrific.” That statement was written by one of my faithful readers named Beetle and it is worth some reflection. It is worthy of that reflection because it provides a handy rehash of that most venerable and visceral of pro-choice arguments: the coat hanger argument. That argument seems […]
Is God the ultimate utilitarian?
This is a sequel to “The great implausibility of Calvinistic Damnation Part 1. In that discussion we considered an argument for why God, on the Calvinistic view, opts to damn some people. According to that view the reason is because God necessarily always acts to manifest his glory most fully and it so happens that the […]
Grandpa drowns. Humanity flourishes
James (of http://www.atheistspot.com/) has presented a secular morality which seems to look like this: Thou shalt commit acts which further human flourishing and not commit acts which inhibit human flourishing. I think this is just another form of utlitarianism where we seek to maximize pleasure or happiness and minimize displeasure or unhappiness. We could thus […]
